Usagi Ringo – [Fruit|Foodlore]

Description

Usagi Ringo. – うさぎリンゴ. – (Bunny Apple.)

• About this fruit: An Apple which has been decoratively cut into the shape of a bunny, Cute!! – [Simply cut a “V” across the back of a slice,  soak it briefly in lemon or salt water and it’ll stay crisp for longer. you should cut out the seeds too, (but I forgot.)]

It’s often said that the custom of cutting apples like this began “Supposedly in the Meiji era, when a maid cut an apple into this shape to make Emperor Meiji laugh.” – However, in my brief research, I was not able to find any precise records or evidence of this aside from brief chatter online. – (So, It might just be something people ‘say’ happened or something of an urban legend, rather than a solid fact.) – Regardless, what IS true is that The earliest apples in Japan were brought from China in the Heian Period – BUT! Later during the Meiji era in 1871, apple cultivation took a big step forwards when 75 varieties of apple saplings where brought over by Colonel Kuroda from Europe via the United States for Cultivation Efforts, they where & distributed to Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, and Nagano prefectures. The first of these trees bore fruits in 1879 and from there on Japans apple industry boomed. As well, simultaneously in 1871, Japan was also going through something of a “Rabbit Boom!“  So I’d suppose its likely that with those popular events both happening at once/around the same time, It’s possible that somewhere there in, is when this cute legend began? – its difficult to pin point this legends origin much further than that, at least without easy access to archived news articles from the time.

However, it’s always been a bit of a trope in manga and anime to see a protagonist being served these while they’re sick, to show that they’re being cared for with love, much like how many doting parents will still cut apples into this shape for kids to enjoy to this day! (World wide; be it oranges, apples, banana’s or pears, parents serving their kids sliced fruit, is most certainly a maternal symbol!)

[Sticker art by @Samkalensky, Part of my Fruit/Foodlore collection of stickers! I drew this one years ago (back in 2018?) but decided to revive the design in 2026 for the sake of this write up.]